I started talking about an early Saturday morning job-seekers meeting I attended recently where I found myself interrupting people's stories to interject comments. Several seem to be obvious, but evidence that they need to be repeated keeps cropping up. I have given you some comments in Parts I and II about personal presentation, introductions and résumés as well as about interviews, recruiters and listening for feedback. Here is the last installment:
Follow up e-mails or phone calls
You can't guess if the recruiter or the hiring manager is going to appreciate your follow-up e-mail or phone call. They might find you very resourceful, or they might find you annoying. It's a risk either way. But hey, job-seeking is not for the faint of heart. Just do what feels right for you. If your approach is not working, examine the possible reasons for it. Do you sound desperate or arrogant or tentative? Use the leaving-yourself-a-message to try to figure that out. In any case, if it's not working, back off.
Back off and move on
If it's not working, back off and move on. You need to focus on what’s happening in your search. That means you have to be pushing several activities concurrently, otherwise your pipeline will be very empty. That might be why you find time to dwell on your lack of success. Remember that success is defined by how you deal with failure. So get busy filling your pipeline.
Fill your pipeline
You can fill your pipeline by
- applying for jobs
- targeting specific recruiters
- targeting specific companies
- attending networking events
- catching up on your technical reading
- attending industry events (where you are likely to meet employed people in your field)
- updating your training
- having informational interviews
- finding new trends in your target industry
Every time I went to an interview and they asked me what I did while I was "off", I was able to tell them what an amazing time I was having, books I was reading, the groups I was chairing, the interesting people I was meeting, and the things I was learning about myself. My interviewers were invariably impressed with how up-beat I was; my sense of the possibilities was infectious.
The really, really obvious stuff
And then, there's the really, really obvious stuff: make your résumé public on Workopolis, Monster.com and monster.ca, and Careerbuilder as well as on those sites that cater to your area of expertise. For example, I had my résumé on all reputable HR recruiter sites. Join groups in your field on LI. Make sure you subscribe to job posting lists or are on distribution lists of all the groups that share job postings in your field. You should also have your résumé on the Company web-sites that you are targeting. Don't forget to subscribe to eluta.ca and indeed.ca. Did I really need to say this?
Go to the well, lean on the rock
Go to the well to fill yourself up. Your well can be your family, your friends, your favoured activities. It may also mean new friends and activities. And lean on your rock for support and understanding. Your rock may not be your spouse. In the beginning, mine wasn't for me. He was so nervous about our dwindling funds, it was hard to manage my own see-sawing emotions, let alone his. I had to temporarily find myself another rock. And yes, I am still happily married to the same man I was married to before the job loss. He is still my main rock.
You can't guess if the recruiter or the hiring manager is going to appreciate your follow-up e-mail or phone call. They might find you very resourceful, or they might find you annoying. It's a risk either way. But hey, job-seeking is not for the faint of heart. Just do what feels right for you. If your approach is not working, examine the possible reasons for it. Do you sound desperate or arrogant or tentative? Use the leaving-yourself-a-message to try to figure that out. In any case, if it's not working, back off.
Back off and move on
If it's not working, back off and move on. You need to focus on what’s happening in your search. That means you have to be pushing several activities concurrently, otherwise your pipeline will be very empty. That might be why you find time to dwell on your lack of success. Remember that success is defined by how you deal with failure. So get busy filling your pipeline.
Fill your pipeline
You can fill your pipeline by
- applying for jobs
- targeting specific recruiters
- targeting specific companies
- attending networking events
- catching up on your technical reading
- attending industry events (where you are likely to meet employed people in your field)
- updating your training
- having informational interviews
- finding new trends in your target industry
Every time I went to an interview and they asked me what I did while I was "off", I was able to tell them what an amazing time I was having, books I was reading, the groups I was chairing, the interesting people I was meeting, and the things I was learning about myself. My interviewers were invariably impressed with how up-beat I was; my sense of the possibilities was infectious.
The really, really obvious stuff
And then, there's the really, really obvious stuff: make your résumé public on Workopolis, Monster.com and monster.ca, and Careerbuilder as well as on those sites that cater to your area of expertise. For example, I had my résumé on all reputable HR recruiter sites. Join groups in your field on LI. Make sure you subscribe to job posting lists or are on distribution lists of all the groups that share job postings in your field. You should also have your résumé on the Company web-sites that you are targeting. Don't forget to subscribe to eluta.ca and indeed.ca. Did I really need to say this?
Go to the well, lean on the rock
Go to the well to fill yourself up. Your well can be your family, your friends, your favoured activities. It may also mean new friends and activities. And lean on your rock for support and understanding. Your rock may not be your spouse. In the beginning, mine wasn't for me. He was so nervous about our dwindling funds, it was hard to manage my own see-sawing emotions, let alone his. I had to temporarily find myself another rock. And yes, I am still happily married to the same man I was married to before the job loss. He is still my main rock.
And then you get the job
And then you get the job. You are excited. You are happy to work hard. You are so relieved that it feels natural to put in extra time and effort. And ... you wake in the middle of the night, swamped with a wave of certainty that you will lose this job, too.
Well, thank goodness it’s impossible to sustain these kinds of feelings, because it sure would be hard to get back to work every morning! It’s normal for self-esteem to be shaken periodically. Make sure you save time to go back to the well and lean on that rock. Firmly close any book of pain you might have lying around open. Put that book back on the shelf – it does have its uses, but not now. And open the notebook you keep of all the compliments you have gathered from people you trust and respect. Read that. Read it again. And enjoy your new job.
Thank you for reading these three posts on Various and Miscellany Advice. I hope it helps you or someone you know. I look forward to your anecdotes and stories of what has worked for you in the land of Job-Seekers in the comment section below.
I must say, even though I am not a job-seeker, but I have read all three posts with interest. I have been on both sides of the equation over time and HR expertise is something I lack. I take these as upgrades to my understanding of the process. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteBeing a job-seeker certainly puts we HR professionals on the other side of the (interview) table, and it isn't always comfortable.
ReplyDeleteI find the job-seeking community very dynamic. There's purpose and energy and hope. People who are challenged in this manner do extra-ordinary and admirable things.
If I can help them after all they did to help me, then I have paid their gifts forward.
Part I, II, & III were all very interesting. As a job seeker I have gain some extra insight which is necessary.
ReplyDeleteIt's exciting to be a job seeker, it's add humility, patience, gratitude, re-dedication, diligence, focus, adaptation, reformation, and many other attributes that make you a better person/worker than you ever were before.
Truly as blessing in disguise.